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2 months ago | 
themeateater.com | Adam Moore |Beau Martonik
Hunting hill country or mountainous areas presents its own set of challenges. However, the terrain at least provides a starting point that flatlands don’t give up so easily. Saddles, benches, or drainages typically stand out on a map. Subtle terrain features and soft edges don’t. The lack of terrain and monotonous habitat, especially in the big woods, can be intimidating when you’re e-scouting.
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Jan 13, 2025 | 
themeateater.com | Adam Moore |Beau Martonik |Mark Kenyon
At this point in the year, most folks have called it quits, and many states’ deer seasons have closed. While many hunters turn their attention to fly tying, ice fishing, or even shed hunting, a lot of hunters, especially down South, are still trying to punch tags. In fact, most of the Gulf Coast states have prime rutting action this time of year.
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Dec 9, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Adam Moore |Mark Kenyon |Beau Martonik |Tony Peterson
For many reasons, the rut can be the best and most exciting time to kill a buck. Even sage bucks let down their guards this time of year, and there’s always a chance that one could run through your setup. As hopeful as rut hunting might seem, those same chance encounters can make it unpredictable and frustrating. Even if you blanked during the rut, you should still have high hopes for the late season. By this time of the season the temps, leaves, and optimism have all dropped.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Tony Peterson |Beau Martonik |Clay Newcomb |Mark Kenyon
I’ve never owned a four-wheeler or a side-by-side. I also rarely hunt places where my deer die close to the road. This reality has led me to consider all aspects of getting deer out of the woods without killing myself via a miserable drag. What that has taught me is that a lot of folks just don’t understand what the options are, or how to figure out which one is best for individual hunts.
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Nov 5, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Dylan Tramp |Tony Peterson |Beau Martonik
The archery opener has come and gone, along with the entire month of October, and you still haven’t crossed paths with a mature buck. Turn the page to November, crisp mornings, cold fronts, and the rut brings the promise of crunching leaves and cruising bucks. Unfortunately, almost as quick as the newfound hope arrives, the grind begins, and you find yourself on the back half of the rut, running low on sleep and ideas. You know that time on stand will prevail and you need to keep after it.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Adam Moore |Tony Peterson |Beau Martonik
This is essentially what my wife told me after I returned, complaining, from a recent hunt. It’s not exactly the consolation I was looking for, but it was an honest assessment, albeit frank. While she didn’t mean it as a slight or even a passive-aggressive dig, she did help me reevaluate my goals and expectations as a hunter who works multiple jobs, has a family, and pursues other commitments and interests.
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Oct 25, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Mark Kenyon |Dylan Tramp |Beau Martonik
Opening day has come and gone. The October Lull is fading in the rearview mirror. And, now, the whitetail rut is staring us right in the hairy eyeball. It’s just about here. As you might have guessed by now, my opening day plan did not go as I’d hoped. In fact, the two bucks I’ve been after in southern Michigan have been complete ghosts. One hasn’t shown since October 3rd. The other, which I wrote about last time, has been AWOL since the beginning of September but did, in fact, show up again.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Dylan Tramp |Beau Martonik
As the saying goes, there’s a grain of truth in every lie, just like when your hunting buddy “passes” up a buck to let him grow another year. How many arrows did you start the hunt with, bud? All joking aside, there’s definitely an ounce of truth to every widely held whitetail belief. But the fact of the matter is, whitetail hunters with relentless optimism tend to find a way to fill their tags every season. They make hay while the sun shines.
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Oct 18, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Adam Moore |Beau Martonik |Tony Peterson |Andy May
Few things substitute experience and time in the field. While it can be tempting to think a new piece of gear can help you level up, it rarely works that way. As a gear editor and reviewer, I’ve used some of the best hunting gear money can buy, and I can tell you that no single piece of equipment has directly correlated to me killing a big buck.
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Sep 20, 2024 | 
themeateater.com | Kubie Brown |Beau Martonik
The modern hunting world is obsessed with long-range shooting. From the rise in popularity of rifles like the 6.5 Creedmoor to thousand-yard gun ranges and shooting courses popping up like new Starbucks locations, it seems like every hunter wants to dial it in at a distance. Now, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with being able to knock a flea off a cockroach’s eyeball from half a mile away; I’m just saying it’s not always necessary.
